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Community Bookshelf

In an effort to nourish that impoverished part of my mind that feeds only on literature read for pleasure, I am opening up this bookshelf. The goal is for it to shelve enjoyable reads spanning humor, nostalgia, seduction, heartbreak, whimsy, astonishment, and everything in between.

Liken this page to those wonderful shelves found in quaint country hostels or cozy back alley cafes. The ones that encourage you to snatch any book in exchange for one of your own. This is far from a list of all-time favorites. Rather, it is a living list of the literature passing through my hands. Take a title off the shelf and leave behind a suggestion in the comments.

On the Shelf:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Story of a New Name: The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

Motherhood by Sheila Heti

My Brilliant Friend: The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

1222: The Hanne Wilhelmsen Novels by Anne Holt

Nemesis: A Harry Hole Thriller by Jo Nesbø

WhiteGirls by Hilton Als

It Chooses You by Miranda July

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

The Nix: A Novel by Nathan Hill

McSweeney’s Quarterly #51

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

A Frame for Life by Ilse Crawford

Drown by Junot Diaz

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

On the Move by Oliver Sacks

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

In the Company of Women by Grace Bonney

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Lost Cat – a true story of love, desperation, and GPS technology by Caroline Paul & Wendy MacNaughton

Collected short stories by George Saunders

Notorious RBG: the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti

Death in Venice and Other Tales by Thomas Mann

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

The Volcano Lover by Susan Sontag

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Living Out Loud by Anna Quindlen

Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell

First They Killed My Father: a daughter of Cambodia remembers by Loung Ung

This is a great idea! I will take the Destiny of the Republic, which looks fascinating. Since you liked Orlando (which I love too!), I’ll leave the suggestion of Mrs. Dalloway if you haven’t read that. Love that too! Another I would suggest that you might enjoy is The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, by Tom Reiss. If you like biographies, that one’s amazing.